Madison Bumgarner thought about this moment, because all pitchers do. He probably thought it would last more than four innings, though.

Bumgarner was pulled in the fifth inning of a 9-8 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on opening night, and it wasn’t an easy decision for manager Bruce Bochy. With two runners in scoring position and one out, Bochy felt he needed a spark, so he turned to Gregor Blanco.

“I was caught in a hard spot,” Bochy said. “I hate to take (Bumgarner) out in that situation, but down three, I felt we had to do something. Finally, it started clicking.”

It clicked too late for Bumgarner to pick up his 50th career win, and truth be told, Bumgarner will probably go to sleep tonight thinking he didn’t deserve it anyway. He’s the ace now, and he feels responsible on nights like this. When the guys behind him made a hot mess of the top of the fourth, Bumgarner couldn’t stop the bleeding. Aaron Hill’s double made it a four-run frame.

“I had a chance to get it out of it,” he said. “Unfortunately I didn’t. I feel like I did a great job of containing nerves. I felt really relaxed. I was able to control it enough where none of the hoopla bothered me. But my command was a little erratic. Arizona is not the easiest place to pitch.”

It’s because of that last part that Bochy felt he could make the move. The Diamondbacks struggle to pitch here, too, and Bochy wanted to start a rally. Bumgarner didn’t fight him, even when he found out the bat was being taken out of his power-hitting hands.

“It was a tough decision,” Bumgarner said.

His first career opening day start was a no-decision, but there probably will be more openers for the 24-year-old. Plus, there are these numbers: 0.00 (his ERA) and 1-0 (the team’s record).

“That wasn’t quite the way I drew it up,” Bumgarner said, smiling. “But however we get the win, I’ll take it.”

— The game story has much more on a crazy night at Chase Field, including a bit on Brandon Belt. It was a weird night for Belt, one that started miserably but ended with three hits, a homer and a joyous jog around the bases as Buster Posey’s homer headed for someone’s chicken finger plate. Two years ago, the Giants were a mess defensively as they got swept here during the opening series. Tonight, the infield again was a step late on just about everything. To be fair, I’ve been told that the infield here is pretty much like playing on a paved parking lot.

“It’s different, but we have to be aware of that,” Belt said. “We’re professionals. It’s a little harder than most places, but we knew that. It shouldn’t be an excuse for us.”

The Giants will need to lock it up defensively, Belt included. But he’s already locked in at the plate.

— On Day 1, we had no challenges. Bochy said they looked at the play at second when Brandon Crawford’s foot came off the bag, but determined that the runner was safe.

Crawford, by the way, is swinging a hot bat. He got Chase Field-ed today, which I didn’t know was really possible.

— Late in what was a rough spring for Jean Machi, the right-hander walked around the clubhouse dancing to an old-school hip hop song. You can see now why Machi was in such a good mood – Bochy has a ton of confidence in him, and Machi was well on his way to making the opening day roster despite some shaky outings. Bochy waited on the top step after the top of the eighth to greet Machi, who was downright filthy in 1 2/3 innings. Machi got Paul Goldschmidt and Mark Trumbo swinging in the eighth. In this division, that’s a hell of a way to keep your job.

“He settled down and made some great pitches,” Bochy said. “Machi has got that ability. He throws hard and he’s got three pitches to work with.”

Said Posey: “He kept us within striking distance.”

— Speaking of valuable bench guys: Ehire Adrianza. The rookie had a hell of an at-bat in the four-run seventh inning and then put down a tricky tag on the inning-ending double play.

“I was happy for the kid,” Bochy said of the double. “That’s pretty impressive.”

— It’ll be interesting to see how many complete games Michael Morse plays this season. Bochy wanted a fifth outfielder so that he could pull Morse in the late innings of close games, and after Morse struck out to end the top of the seventh, Bochy double-switched Juan Perez into the game. This is also why it always made sense for Perez to be that fifth guy; Bochy burned Blanco early but still had a really strong defensive outfielder on the bench.

— I’ll eat just about anything, as the fine people at the Talking Stick Resort buffet would tell you. But this? No.

— That ninth-inning shot was the first homer Sergio Romo has given up to a Diamondback since 2010. Posey’s homer was his second career blast with the score tied in the ninth inning or later (he hit a walk-off against the Dodgers last season).

— I have this written down in my notebook, from Bumgarner’s media session: “Yeah.” Sadly, I can’t remember the question, but it reminded me of this great exchange from last season here in Phoenix.

Local Phoenix reporter: “You and Cahill had quite a battle.”
Bumgarner: “Yeah.”

Alex Pavlovic

Post navigation

Thanks Alex. As later innings proved, 4 runs down is not exactly down-and-out, not the way the ball was flying out of there with the roof off. That’s what made it a tough decision to take Mad Bum out. Glad it worked out in the end. It’s nice to start 1-0.

Vegas Giants Fan

I don’t know if this was discussed tonight. When Crawford scored on Pagan’s single Crawford was tripped by D-Backs catcher Montero. Crawford stumbled across home plate without tagging it. He had to get up and return back to the plate to touch it, making his run scored count. My question. Why was Crawford not called safe at home by the home plate umpire due to catcher interference? Montero blocked the path to home plate without possession of the ball, calling for the runner to be automatically safe. I could use some clarification on this rule. Thanks.

pacman68

Get some rest Cain. The balls are flying. Great win. Go Giants!! So fun to be back and read everyone.

MLBSF

With 70 percent of Dodger fans unable to watch the games because nobody is carrying SportsNet LA except Time Warner, looks like the Dodgers are now begging and pleading with fans to demand Direct TV, U-Verse, Comcast, Verizon, etc carry the games! LOOOOOL!

The website even has a list of all the bars and restaurants that carry the games. Humiliating to say the least!

StevenAlanMitchell

it shall not be considered a violation of this Rule 7.13 if the catcher blocks the pathway of the runner in order to field a throw, and the Umpire determines that the catcher could not have fielded the ball without blocking the pathway of the runner and that contact with the runner was unavoidable.

Vegas Giants Fan

Surf, how’s home? Anyway, I thought Bumgarner was struggling from just about the beginning of the game so I was glad Bochy took him out. I wasn’t much happy with his replacements performance though. I was so glad to read Bumgarner saying he had a chance to get out of the inning, knowing despite the errors it’s still his responsibility to get the job done. I’ve tried to tell people here it’s the pitchers job to pick up his defense when they fail him. The defense saves the pitchers more runs over the course of a season than they give up, and I know the pitchers realize it. I just wish the fans could realize that too. Good to see you back on the board. Maybe some day I’ll head over to the Warriors blog and talk some B-Ball. That was my game.

Go Giants.

SurfCity

It’s fine. A little wet, but fine.

Vegas Giants Fan

Thanks.

JD4SF

Thanks, Alex!
I’m feeling positive about 2014, and we still have a loooooooong season ahead to enjoy Giants baseball! My predictions:
* The winces on defense will go away soon – we all know our guys play D better than this.
* Pitching (including bullpen) is still evolving out of ST, and we saw some problems in game 1 but also plenty of potential.
* Where I suspect we’ll see some extra benefits is in depth on the bench and offense. We have potential for some good talent coming off the bench as needed, and there are players who should improve with seasoning. Belt and Crawford come to mind as likely to have better at bats than last year. Add that to the other bats we already had, and the bats we’ve added, and offense should be improved. We’ve proven small ball works, and have increased potential for more long balls. A Good Thing!
* Not counting Scutaro’s bad back, I’m seeing players who showed up in good and better shape to start the season. That should help in the 161 games yet to play, plus post-season.
* The foundation for great chemistry is already in the clubhouse, with players working together as a TEAM, which is a HUGE advantage. This team has no quit, and the comeback proved they can dig deep and come back strong.
Dodgers are catching the eye of many for taking the West. I think we can make a very solid argument that the Giants will be tough contenders and the Dodgers best not be counting chickens. Those chickens may well end up in a Giant stew pot. 😉
Winning game 1 got us started. Let’s keep it rolling … one game at a time!

Andres The Forever Giant

Upon hearing the radio call of the ninth inning again, I loved Posey’s gamesmanship on the pitch just before the GW HR, stepping out late on Reed!

Croix de Candlestick

Great comeback win! Dang, west coast games are a killer for us east coasters. Fell asleep going to the top of the eighth. If only that were a formula for success

AlOha44

Duck the Fodgers!

2holehitting

That was a nice comeback. The bats came alive. One can only hope that infield shores itself up because there were many plays that should have been errors that were not. I predict BB9 will be terrible at fielding hits at him. He is slow footed without great reactive reflex from what I have viewed over the years. With the pitchers they Gmen have, he is going to get more hits at him he won’t field that he should. There were so many dribblers by him and Arias last night. Not to mention the 1 E and the non call E in his Brain.

Foothills Ryan

The 2hole-Belt experiment is off to a fine start. Coverage on the inside corner at 93 mph? Check. Seeing as he doesn’t fare any worse against lefties, might as well keep a good thing going. I’d drop Sandoval to 5th or 6th vs. lefties however.

This is the new and improved Giants lineup. Bruce Bochy sets the lineup with the help of this blog…

…April Fools on that one.

How long until Adrianza grabs second base? Arias looked anything but natural there. No foolin’.

DrLefty

Also Adrianza’s pinch-hit double was huge in the 7th…great AB, two-strike adjustment. There is just something about that kid. It’s like he knows his time has come.

Foothills Ryan

I also like Craw batting 7th. Looks plenty capable of driving in some runs. Got his cheeks into the CF wall shot. Should get more pitches to hit and won’t have to think about expanding his zone so much. Most valuable Brandons in the league? As a duo, no foolin’.

2holehitting

He looked rather bad the first 2 times up keeping right in line with his horrendous end to Spring Training. Then with 1 swing, click 3 straight hits including a big fly that scored more runs than my Cubs whole lineup did. It was a nice day for a 2Hole experiment.

Foothills Ryan

He looked very confident in last PA. He looked dangerous.

walt kovacs

it was really nice to see a solid mccarthy back on the mound

was even better watching him left in one inning too long

lots of opening day yips

but in the end…fun game

Doughnut

What was the official scorer smoking? Some of the rulings last night were a downright insult to the game. I can understand a little bit of bias but some of those decisions hurts the integrity of the game. Person should be banned from baseball.

On that note, this team can’t survive if the defense is not above average. So yesterday was a big cause for concern and hopefully just a one day thing. I thought that was a focus this year.
Other then that, I really like the team chemistry. Everybody seems hungry and they all seem to fit very well. Its a really good mix of guys on this team that fit well together. There could be a good thing brewing with this team.

But none of that will matter if we can’t do what we have in the past always done. Pitch and play defense. Pitchers need to know they can trust guys to make the routine plays. Last year the little things gave us a lot of trouble. We have to be really good at doing the little things.
I like the overall attitude and mix of personalities in this club a lot though. No matter what, we got a good group that will give 100 percent. Hopefully we can pitch.

G-ManFanInCan

Got to love opening day in Arizona. 9-8 yard-fest!

I know its one day but this team looks like it will get it’s mojo back and really compete for division and or wildcard…barring injuries.

How long before Adrianza gets the regular job? Methinks Scoots may be close to done but he’s a hard guy to write off.

Nice to have that fuzzy tired feeling back staying up past midnight watching my Giants!

Matthew

Doughnut, we should probably wait to judge the fielding until we play on a real infield. I agree that it was a rough night, and some of the errors were mental…but I also think this place affects them mentally because of the terrible conditions they play in.

2holehitting

psst that was a real infield. Professionals play on it. That field is far better than what teams played on in the past. That performance was just as bad as last year if not worse with Errors and mental failings.

stickman

What i’d love to see this weekend is the Giants striding off their plane at LAX wearing brand-new pairs of snakeskin boots. Starting off with an offense-powered sweep in the Snakes’ den would send a message, not only to the LaBumbos, but also to all those prognosticacious poobahs on the sports networks, that those are Giant strides being made by those orange and black snakeskin boots.

Doughnut

That is what i am hoping Matthew. But after seeing it all last year and then right off the bat again this year, was not encouraging. AZ infield is on steroids so maybe that was it. Chavez Ravine should be a walk in the park in that case. Have to say, dodger infield always seems like the easiest on the IF.

stickman

My feelings, exactly. Couple years back i was wondering why the hell SF was keeping him in the pipeline, what with his disastrously low batting stats. Of course he was just a kid, one with considerable defensive polish, on a steep learning curve with a piece of lumber in his mitts. His career trajectory is starting to remind me a bit of those of Ozzie and Omar. Defensive whizzes both, they couldn’t hit for spit early in their careers either. Defensively he could be the glue that holds it all togethr.

Public_Service_forthe_Ignorati

I can imagine Gibson instructing his catcher to buzz him the next time he steps out late like that.

Andres The Forever Giant

Whereupon Buster will calmly get up, dust himself off, and crush the next pitch just the same!

Public_Service_forthe_Ignorati

That is the game, in a nutshell.

stickman

Whether in the two-hole or batting third, Belt is becoming a bopper. Couple Belt the Bopper with Buster the Blaster and you have a one-two punch that’s easily a match for the Goldschmidt-Trumbo pairing or any combination the LaBumbos come up with, Add in a dash of Pence n’ Panda and you have a recipe for potent production.

Last night we just may have had a prevue of coming attractions of the most awesome offense in the National League. And it’s not just the big bats. That opening RBI by Pagan and the slashing double by Adrianza tell me that this is one deep and dangerous lineup.

Offensively the Giants have come a lonnng way from the ’11 squad.

Doughnut

I was thinking the same thing. Seems like something Gibson would do after a tough loss. If he does, it won’t end because Giants pitchers aren’t going to let Buster get thrown at.

ClutchUp

Mass hysteria during the game?
Is is the NFL (16 games)
NBA ?
Hockey?
No 162+ grind ’em out 9 Inn
*Best sport on the Planet

ClutchUp

Matthew:Alex: paved parking lot
Aurilia: surface is HORRIBLE

ClutchUp

Ask any groundskeeper: it is hard as a rock

ClutchUp

“Hole” _ he looked like his other teammates no?

2holehitting

Now that Pablo is lighter and more svelt on his feet, he covers more ground getting to balls he would not have last year. Those are now errors instead of infield hits 🙂

2holehitting

PSST it is a professional field they must play on what a Dozen games? Deal with it. Think Ozzie Smith had a nice soft slow field to play on or Davie Concepcion.

2holehitting

The excuse makers are out in force after the first game for the inflield. Oh it is a bad field that is why we made so many mistakes 2 errors 2 throwing decisions not called and errors. Not getting to balls hit in the infield that should have been fielded

I got news for you, the DBacks infield had ZERO errors. Got that. Same field. The Giants fielding is picking up where it left off last year. The WORST in the league.

Excuse makers be damn.

2holehitting

That was the Crawford excuse last year right?

Michael Scott

AZ plays on it 81 times a year, pal.

Michael Scott

Belt is an excellent fielder who had a tough game.

Michael Scott

If Reed is going to f**t around in the stretch forever he’s going see to a heckuva more of what Posey did. Throw the ball. Uh, on second thought,…

Bapah

I actually thought you were one of the people here that knew something about baseball. My apologies.

Bapah

He’s spent a long time preparing. I hope he maintains it.

Michael Scott

No sheet. Some of these folks were ready to call the season over in the 5th inning of game one.

Bapah

Crawford tried something last night that he won’t get away with very long. As someone noted, opening day pitchers for every team seem to try to get first pitch strikes. BCraw took advantage of that fact and hit his first two pitches of this season, and hit them hard. If he channels Scutaro in his ABs, things will be fine.

DrLefty

You mean like the one he cut off in front of Crawford and then made an error throwing to 2B? I watched that replay several times, and if he doesn’t jump in front of Crawford, I think Craw gets it and makes the play at first.

Pablo was lucky last night. He got called for one error–it could/should have been three. There was some odd “homer” scoring last night.

Bapah

Relax, official scorers had their first game too. Everybody gets jitters. Albatrosses will hang around deserving neck soon enough.

Phil DiNuzzo

I’m sorry more errors weren’t called on the team you support?

Michael Scott

One can only pray that if/when Scooter returns that Bochy will put him in the 7 or 8 hole. I sent him a copy of The Book, maybe he’ll read it.

DrLefty

It’s probably a combination of two things: (1) early season jitters and (2) the field being hard at this point in the spring. The Giants had the same exact problems in the opening series in 2012, but I don’t remember them having similar ones in subsequent series in AZ, where they play three times every year. I heard (last week) that the spring training fields were hard as a rock by the end of camps, too. They’ve had very warm, dry weather in that area this spring. As the summer kicks in, they keep the roof closed in that ballpark, and things become more “normal” (whatever “normal” is like in Phoenix).

Not making excuses–I agree the defense also needs to be much better–but I doubt it’s quite as bad as it looked last night.

Bapah

Ozzie coughed up plenty of hairballs in the early years. Get a life in this decade.

Bapah

I now see how 2-hole got his name; it has nothing to do at all with baseball.

MLBSF

Have Giants’ publicity department members already made their appearance trying to smooth things over? smh

Michael Scott

It was a hugely entertaining hot mess of a performance . Most teams will lose a game a game that one.

Matthew

To answer you from last night…2 Hole posted a “laugh” when Belt made an error…he was HAPPY. That is why I said what I did. I get criticism when warranted. I do not get the joy when failure proves some curmudgeon right.

Phyxius

Ugly win. I’ll take it though.

I’ve confirmed that no matter how much good Brandon Belt does, there will still be a bit of a hate left for him.

Bapah

Matt, that’s her act. She isn’t smart, just caustic. Have you noticed how she gravitates to troll-like posts?

Foothills Ryan

Did you sign it ? 😉

—

“Marco”…

…”Scutaro”

Fish out of water?

Anti-Lasorda

What a way to spend his Jeopardy winnings…….

Michael Scott

There will be a couple dozen players getting “lucky” several times each this year.. It was a fun game, And It was actually pretty funny how the Belt bashers had to switch gears in midgame. And how the Machi bashers fell silent. What a game for the kvetchers . And what a bummer for them that we won.

Bapah

I think the key to a successful year for BB9 is to change his name to Brandon Pelt. As veggies go Ps are right up there.

Historical note:
My Dad had this tired old joke, “Son, I want you to eat every potato and pe(e)a on your plate.” It loses something (if it ever had it in the first place) when you have to spell it out.

Michael Scott

The Giants won a flawed but fun game-“deal with it”.
.

stickman

Perhaps the DB defense did well because they’re used to playing in their snakepit sandbox.

Michael Scott

The plays were that not called errors weren’t errors no matter who the official scorer is.We know that there were mistakes but not all mistakes can be ruled as errors. It happens. Not all of you have watched a few thousand games so I understand the panic. You’re a smart guy but don’t it sweat it. It was a more entertaining game than 99% of those you’ll see. Enjoy.

DrLefty

Like someone said on the previous thread, you have to give Belt some credit for turning things around mid-game. Two ugly-looking strikeouts and an error and THEN three hits, a homer, and three runs scored. That suggests some mental toughness that some have been slow to credit him with. (Nor do I think the botched rundown was entirely his fault–Arias played a part in that, too.)

DrLefty

Me too. With Scutaro out for awhile, there could be a real opportunity for young Ehire to show what he can do. If Arias can’t manage 2B better than he did last night–well, he doesn’t hit well enough to offset bad defense there. This is to say that barring a return from Scutaro himself, there’s no one really standing in Adrianza’s way right now.

Bapah

I think the over-the-top corndog is its own snake pit, but what makes it truly nauseating is that it comes with fries.

channelclemente

I’d just as soon they were striding of the plane at SFO, with blue Dodger pelts on their belts, myself.

DrLefty

Why not both? That works for me. 🙂

channelclemente

Like watching A**holes with a straw.

DrLefty

Baggs said there was a 45-min line for those disgusting things last night! (The line was really bad at Voodoo Donuts in Portland, too, but at least those are QUALITY.)

Bapah

Sadly, Arias is not an everyday player, but he is an outstanding Swiss Army knife. That’s the role he needs to embrace because he’s damned good at it.

channelclemente

He did what he’s previously been incapable of doing, adjust on the fly between or during an AB. If he can do that regularly, he’s going to be a monster this year.

Foothills Ryan

One was a breaking ball, one was a heater over the plate.

Getting first pitch strikes is a good strategy, especially for the back of the lineup.

channelclemente

I’m not greedy, but why not?

Bapah

Did you have one? or two…or? On TV they looked disgustingly good.

channelclemente

Adrianza is ready. Now is the time.

Matthew

I think that we should brand games like last night…and it should pay homage to our blog author…. So, moving forward, a game such as last night will heretofore be know as “Pulling A Ti+comb”

Last night they didn’t fold, and say well get’um tomorrow. They wanted that game, and they took it, in spite of their miscues. This is not 2013, from my vantage point.

totalfan62

Crawford’s regression last year was due to the hand injury, general fatigue and the burden of not being in the playoff hunt. I’d still take him over your boy Castro or the new hotshot SS the Cubs are touting.

Bapah

It’s in his head. The real Belt-basher that has to be convinced is Belt, himself.

Bapah

Leave him alone, he’s not a fan.

totalfan62

Lots of lineup flexibility with this group. I could see Belt, Pablo, Pence and Morse moving around in spots 2-6, with Posey basically locked in at cleanup. Don’t discount the possibility of Crawford, Adrianza or Arias getting some ABs in the two hole as well. Don’t give up on Arias just yet–let’s see what he can do over these next 10-12 games. I think we might be pleasantly surprised.

channelclemente

In baseball, almost everything is ‘in the head’. My point is whatever it took, Belt has a plan, and he really wants a piece of you if you’re on the mound. He’s getting, and cultivating that streak of meanness he needs.

Bapah

He sure ran into that first one, huh?

Bapah

Pelt.

Foothills Ryan

Mission accomplished for 2holehitting. Get a rise out Giants Extra denizens.

2hole is the most knowledgeable contributor here. Deal with it!

It’s April 1st, right?

Bapah

Pagan-Pelt-Posey-Pablo-Pence

Foothills Ryan

You a big fan of beaver pelt?

Michael Scott

I know these things- it’s a beer batter deep fried salamander. They go with the Rocky Mountain Oysters on the Duck Dynasty Platter.

Bapah

I AM, Sir, I am. As I am with all things Beaver.

Foothills Ryan

Porse-Prawford-Pariah-Pain

Foothills Ryan

Beaver dams are fascinating as well.

totalfan62

True that! I checked out in the sixth inning (11:45 PM EDT) and hit “record”, feeling pretty confident this would be an L. Unfortunately I saw the final score before I watched the balance of the game, but it was still great. Posey’s shot was a BLAST, definitely flashed back to the bomb off Latos.

totalfan62

Exactly. I’m thinking “who is this kid to pull this stuff?”. Came back to bite him on the butt.

Moooooooooose

Not “ready to,” they did.
Quitters.

Michael Scott

He’s a 2 hole alright. And would be about the 233rd most knowledgeable contributor on the Splash. Deal with it.

He’s managed to work himself to a place where all the scouting reports on him are wrong now. That’s not the uncertainty he used to have in his eye’s anymore. We could very well be watching another Votto being born. It’s going to be fun, I predict, in arbitration next year.

Michael Scott

For those folks the only worse thing than losing this game was winning it.

channelclemente

Trying to scare Posey isn’t a useful goal. I wonder what Posey would be like if he ever lost it?

ClutchUp

No excuses Mr. Jim Frey, just stating a fact. Ask Shawon Dunston who took pregame groundballs. Nobody saw Hector offering to take grounders @ first base during pregame.

Note: Roof closed a lot = no sun to dry out the watering of the field. Again NO excuse for the “5” errors. NONE what so ever but don’t put words in peoples moth.

Foothills Ryan

What do you think of Buck Showalter’s O’s? Not gettin’ loving from the pundits. Think they can steal the East crown?

Vegas Giants Fan

There is a reason I turn the blog off during games. One is too many trolls come out to play during the game. The second is all of the knee-jerk comments that make you wonder if some of these people are really Giants fans at all. I prefer reading the blog during the morning/ early afternoon. That is when I find the commentary to be more reasoned.

Foothills Ryan

Pagan-Belt-Pence-Posey-Morse-Sandoval-Crawford-Arias-Cain

Keep the mojo goin’ for Belt & Craw. Do not platoon Craw unless he’s flailing
against lefties. The way to learn how to hit them is to continue to bat against them.
I’ve seen him take a nice compact stroke to the opposite field enough to know he can get it done. Besides, he stabilizes the defense. Keep that constant, with exceptions for rest. Sandoval doesn’t hit from the right like he can from the left. Move him down. One game shouldn’t spoil the coaches’ perception of Arias. Give him at least a couple weeks at second.

Let’s go 2-0. One game at a time.

Moooooooooose

Wise words, Vegas. As always.

Moooooooooose

hole has one thing going in his favor. This is as close to first place his Cubbies have been this late in the year since what, 1984?

channelclemente

Can you imagine the response of many Giants fans to the various trolls here were they to utter their ‘comments’ in the stands at AT&T?

Vegas Giants Fan

It would be fun to watch. 😉

Michael Scott

You don’t think 300 plate appearances is enough to demonstrate that the Mudbug doesn’t hit lefties?

channelclemente

The nitty gritty data on the ESPN baseball division forecasts by the 140 odd analysts who made them.

“Botched-Run-down” -Teammates don’t waste time on ‘blame’ but this is the scoop=skinny and I’m sure Bapah, Anti-Lasorda and PSI can add and subtract. At the major league level all the fundamentals that one teaches in college and HS kind of go out the window (to my chagrin). For example on fly balls “we” yell Ball*Ball*Ball and teammates yell You*You for acknowledgement. But at the ML level and some DI colleges – they yell “I got it”. At lower levels of baseball with a run-down between third and home – all are taught to (try) and run the runner back to third in case there is a mistake, the run doesn’t score. At the ML level they teach “just get the out” (meaning by any means necessary).

(1) BB9 did several uncharacteristic things. He pumped-faked the ball 2-3 times. That is a NO NO unless one is going to do the tagging out himself. He also could have thrown the ball “ahead” as soon as he received it.(2) He put the ball back into his glove and then took it out again (0uch) (3) BC35 was “taking up the slack/pinching” and once BC35 was near the runner, BB9 needed to throw the ball to the bag – to Arias. Lastly, BB9 initially did not sprint at the runner, rather he ran at the runner. The defensive player with the ball NEEDS to out-hustle the runner so that you get the runner’s feet out of sync.

ClutchUp

Tremendous thoughts!

ClutchUp

I was away at a HS baseball fundraiser…but “Atlas” said the trolls had the game over in the 4th… 🙂

Foothills Ryan

Whoa those were bad last year. Go look up his 2012 splits. Or shall I say – what splits? The 300 PA’s are indicative of past performance against lefties. I think he can do better. Even better than 2012. Chalk it up to the ol’ learning curve.

Foothills Ryan

Attababe!

ClutchUp

Mike Scott is correct in that scorers 101 must factor in “degree of difficulty, reasonable effort” (thank you to the late Leonard Koppett). The ball that Pablo went too far to his left on took a weird – spin-hop with “English” on it…. The ball that he threw over Belts head he never had a grip ( and I had E5). The ball that went under Belt’s glove ‘skipped’ – rather than took a regular hop. Did I HAVE more than 2 errors for our Giants than the scoreboard showed? Absolutely! But many of those ‘errors’ were mistakes in fielding-body alignment rather than “he booted the ball”. As far as what he was smoking – a home scorekeeper is going to err on the home side. If a Snake pitcher was throwing a NO NO – those ‘types of balls’ – would have been ruled errors :o)

ClutchUp

Contribute something factual – not something that you think might be true… domed stadiums that open their roof on occasion have Brick Hard infields.

Michael Scott

Translation- he made a rare mistake.. And the runner made a savvy move.This game has been over analyzed to death. There absolutely nothing to fret about unless the mistakes become the norm.

Anti-Lasorda

Psst… Adrianza is a better Shortstop defensively IMHO…

ClutchUp

Amen … … somebody below mentioned Arias had a role in the rundown and that answer is – not at all. I’m surprised the Dbacks runner did not make contact with Crawford, as you know, that is what is taught to do by the runner “in a pickle”.

Matthew

What else are we supposed to do? Work???

Anti-Lasorda

Gotta shot. Much better than people give them credit for. And they made improved on a playoff team from a year ago. That division though is sooo tough, and I don’t think their staff inspires enough confidence.

U. Jimenez
C. Tillman
W. Chen
B. Norris
M. Gonzalez

Chris Davis won’t have the same year…

That’s why I have them missing this season. They’ll keep it interesting though.

Anti-Lasorda

And to think, all this after a win…. I guess I should cue up a funeral dirge for the 70 games they loose this season….

Jaymee Sire had the lead in on the story. Jose the Kid has grown up a tad since the episode last year.

Foothills Ryan

Add in K. Gausman and maybe D. Bundy at end of year. Their bullpen may be their strength. Machado comes back, maybe bounce back from Markakis.

ClutchUp

I’ve been pretty ‘regular’ lately…

Vegas Giants Fan

I’ve got to head out to work. Working 6 in a row. The price I had to pay to watch opening day. Well worth it.

Go Giants.

ClutchUp

He’s saving for the Rick Barry-Dwight Clark procedure

Foothills Ryan

May be the better overall player by next year. Should be fun to find out.

ClutchUp

Yea, but it doesn’t matter and may not be clinically true. Crawls has tenure + the gravitas of been there done that…

2holehitting

if you are going to Mock in good humor atleast be statistically accurate. The Cubs won their division in 2008. I do not believe the Giants did that that year 🙂

2holehitting

Top 500 is quite respectable just ask any fortune 500 company.

2holehitting

Yes just calling out the Giants insiders and the excuse making machines. Big word ” denizens” had to pull out the ol dictionary for that one. Thanks for the eduemacation.

channelclemente

I’ve got nothing,myself, against loosing, as long as you give it everything during the game, and get beat instead of giving it away.

YogiBarrister

When I was a kid, I got my stats from the back of baseball cards. ERA, W-L records, and strikeouts were pretty much all I looked at for pitchers. Then Bill James came along and ruined everything.
For some reason that’s difficult for my one-track mind to fathom, ERA has maintained its place at the head of the table, while W-L records are the drooling old man we try to ignore.
Last season, Kershaw’s phenomenal ERA will be remembered by stat heads for years to come. If there was only one Cy Young winner, according to Ray Ratto (an NL voter), he had a better season than Max Scherzer, whose 21-3 record was apparently mostly luck. Had he been eligible, Ratto went so far as to say he might have voted for his teammate, Anibel Sanchez, presumably because he had a lower ERA.
Last night is a perfect example of why ERA isn’t the telling stat. Bumgarner allowed four runs, whether they were earned or not is immaterial. In fact, giving up hits after your teammates make an error is probably worse.

Bapah

Also funny is that the trolls and trollette somehow vacated the premises as game progressed.

Biggest Giants’ surprises:
Sandoval is re-signed
BB25 becomes more active
#Retire22 picks up steam
Willie Mays Field @ AT&T Park picks up steam
Mike Murphy either writes a book or retires
Brandon Crawford hits .302
Belt hits the most HR’s that get wet
Scutaro returns and has awesome year

WHIP is a good one. It was invented by the originators of Rotisserie Baseball.

2holehitting

Needs improvement,

I think we all can agree last year the D was week, Many times when the D coughed up the ball, the starting pitchers did not pick em up and things snowballed. That lead to high stress innings and many early leaves of games as pitchers pitch count ran up of they needed to get offense.

We just witnessed the same thing yesterday. A bad inning snowballed in which Bum did not come back and shut the door. He was gone for offense after that inning. The next inning Pettit had similar issues and the game quickly snowballed.

Errors will happen, when they do, pitchers can’t unravel and add to the problems. Granted back to back errors and a poor decision on which base to go to on a grounder but there are times when the Pitcher needs to set the tone and K a guy or pop somone up or get the double play ball.

Hope the infield and pitching is not a repeat of last year but after game 1, not impressive.

This is the best season by a starting pitcher since 1978 (Ron Guidry):
22-3, 2.54, 223.1, 170 K’s, 1.110 WHIP
It’s the best because of the W-L record. The other stats are all very good, but didn’t lead the league that year.
If Bumgarner wins the Cy Young this year, and I hope he does, please let it be primarily because of his fantastic winning percentage.

ClutchUp

You can’t really “hope for that” because you’re not a Giant fan…Bumgarner and Petit did “nothing wrong” – $h*t happens …. the other team is also attempting to do ALL the things to “our” team. You’re not even making sense. It is ONE game and actually NOTHING about last year has anything to do with last night.

Even though “That ninth-inning shot was the first homer Sergio Romo has given up to a Diamondback since 2010. “, Romo is struggling with LHB, as he did at the end of last year, and teams are loading up with LH LUs to attack that weakness.

Is Machi the new Mota?

Atlas

Awww Mota. Loved that guy.

Atlas

Who cares, Giants play! Just kidding.

Michael Scott

A lot of teams schedule the second day off in case there’s a rainout for the opener

Jon Miller, Giants TV/radio: “I’m fascinated with statistical information, going back to Bill James and his ‘Baseball Abstract’ in the ’80s. I spend a lot of daytime hours poring through that stuff. But for the broadcast itself, particularly on radio, I feel it just sounds like a bunch of numbers. They don’t tell you what’s really happening.

“I grew up with Russ Hodges and Lon Simmons: ‘Here’s Willie Mays, hitting .317, 26 homers, and leading the league with 51 RBIs.’ The whole point being, what kind of a season is he having? Most of the analytic stuff, like WAR, is more of a predictive thing, telling you someone’s worth. Well, I want to know how he’s doing right now, especially measured against the rest of the league. WAR is not only hard to explain, there are two different versions, and hardly anyone knows how to calculate it. How am I going to fit that into a broadcast?

“I hate to say it, sort of like fighting words, but too often, the analytics people show a lack of understanding of the game. These aren’t people who have played, managed or really experienced baseball. And yet, if you disagree with one of their statistical theories, you’re stuck in the past, you don’t know what you’re talking about. So you take a bunch of coaches and managers, guys who have been successful for 20-30 years, and none of ’em know what they’re talking about? These are the guys who really do know who the best players are, or who you may not want on your club, without needing any statistical analysis. …

MLBSF

ClutchUp truly doesn’t think his S stinks. I’ve never seen anything like it to be honest.

Atlas

Yep.

YogiBarrister

That was Cliff Lee’s record in 2008, which is actually the third best winning percentage since Guidry’s amazing 1978 season. Given that the Yankees won the WS that year, it’s the most successful season in baseball history.
In 1995, both Greg Maddux and Randy Johnson had higher winning percentages, also better ERA’s and WHIPs.

Bapah

There’s one other point that is often neglected. When executing a run-down, I teach my guys to try to exhaust the runner by just tossing the ball a little early and see if you can just keep him moving until he quits. It is unbelievably annoying and demoralizing to the player, coach and other team. Most wars are won by winning the head of your opponent.

Dodgerblue

Why Alex is showing Belt’s home run and not Posey’s. Why so obsessed with Belt an average first baseman, Posey is the star and former MVP.

Bapah

Most players are too anxious to get an out quickly, whereby waiting a bit and making it a head-game, you win more than the out.

Ah the resident pitbull is back on attack. even Bum admitted his buddies fell apart but he still had a chance to save the frame but did not.

“When the guys behind him made a hot mess of the top of the fourth, Bumgarner couldn’t stop the bleeding. Aaron Hill’s double made it a four-run frame.
“I had a chance to get it out of it,” he said. “Unfortunately I didn’t.”
That is what happened many times last year whent he Giants infield of Belt Crawford Scutero and Sandoval lead the league in Errors. They better become better of stopping the bleeding when mistakes happen as a recorded E or not. Else it will be a long year with the pathetic fielding they have had for the past several years.
Yes Clutch Pathetic fielding. League Worst, no matter how many Gold Glove candidates you thorw out there, the fact is they are not and have not ever won gold gloves and play in the bottom third for fielding their positions. Both the Brandons and Pablo and Scutero.

Anti-Lasorda

Just saw that, BTW, Maddux won in 1995 too….

Anti-Lasorda

After the opening bell does not count

Anti-Lasorda

Disagree. Two throws only. More than two is a mistake and allows trailing runners to take free bases.
Run at the runner as hard as you can. Throw in front on him once he commits. If it is the base ahead, it may require a chase back to his starting base and one throw to tag his happy butt out.

Atlas

Much cuter and happier looking NOT on TV.

Bapah

Obviously with more than one runner, you do things differently.

StevenAlanMitchell

I’m sure Amy G would devour that 18 inch corn dog like a champ.

Foothills Ryan

Amen!

Bapah

Usually the mistakes happen when things are too helter-skelter. I’ve found trying to hurry the run down causes more problems than doing things early and making the other guy work. Also, too many cooks spoil the stew. You don’t need more than three to do it. I know there is a 4-man run down, but simple is best.

StevenAlanMitchell

Plus if you had a cold he would always offer “cough syrup.”

paul in p.v.

Watching him run the bases he looks like he’s put on 20#, mostly in his lower half – hope that translates into 20 more bombs. :o)

Atlas

That’s what friends are for.

Bapah

Halle-f–king-luiah

ClutchUp

New Post

DrLefty

I had a bite of Mr. L’s. We didn’t stand in the line. Our incredibly cool hotel has this thing where they bring in Voodoo Donuts to the lobby every last Thursday of the month (we were there). So he took one and I took a bite.

Here’s a photo I took of the donuts.

Anti-Lasorda

I’ll clarify, unless the runner is the current pitcher. Then by all means, play pickle for as long as you like. Especially if it some kids named Kershaw….